Sonoma: Team Penske qualifying report

Briscoe, Castroneves Qualify 2-3 at Sonoma as Power Recovers
August 22, 2009
SONOMA, Calif. -- Team Penske drivers Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves
will start second and third, respectively, in Sunday's Indy Grand Prix of
Sonoma at Infineon ...

Briscoe, Castroneves Qualify 2-3 at Sonoma as Power Recovers
August 22, 2009

SONOMA, Calif. -- Team Penske drivers Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves
will start second and third, respectively, in Sunday's Indy Grand Prix of
Sonoma at Infineon Raceway, but their thoughts will be with their teammate,
Will Power.

Power suffered a concussion and compression fractures of his second and
fourth lumbar vertebrae in an accident during practice Saturday morning. He
was airlifted to Memorial Hospital in Santa Rosa, Calif., where he will
remain for further examination.

The accident occured after the car driven by Nelson Phillipe spun in Turn 3.
With the car sitting just over the hill in the fast, blind, downhill turn,
E.J. Viso clipped the wing of Phillipe's machine before Power came down the
hill and ran right into Phillipe.

Briscoe said he wished his teammate the best, but, like Castroneves,
maintained his focus through qualifying.

"I'm definitely hoping Will is going to be all right," Briscoe said. "I
heard he fractured his back, so it's pretty serious."

Castroneves wished Power a speedy recovery, praising him for his
contribution to the team this season.

"We were all very concerned about Will and hope that he has a quick
recovery," Castroneves said. "You never want to see any of your colleagues
get hurt, especially a teammate. Will has done a lot to help us out this
year. It's just a shame that this had to happen to him today. We all know
the risks involved in racing, but that doesn't make it any easier when
someone you are close to gets hurt."

Briscoe held the top qualifying position Saturday until the final minutes of
the Firestone Fast Six session, when Dario Franchitti topped his lap. Still,
Briscoe's effort of 1:16.8485 in the No. 6 Team Penske Dallara/Honda held up
for another front-row starting position.

Briscoe, who has qualified on the front row in seven of 13 races this
season, is just three points behind Scott Dixon in the IndyCar Series
championship standings with four races remaining in the 2009 season.
Franchitti sits third, now 19 points behind Dixon.

"We were going for it," Briscoe said. "It's really coming down to the three
of us for the championship. It's been a tough one. Whoever is going to win
this championship needs to go out and win races."

Castroneves, who is fourth in the standings, believed he could get more out
of the No. 3 Team Penske Dallara/Honda in Saturday's qualifying.

"I'm a bit disappointed," Castroneves said. "I thought the Team Penske car
was better than third place, and I'm sure Ryan feels the same way. During
the first session we had a problem with our fuel pressure, which the team
was able to fix for Q2 (qualifying two). Then in Q2 we had an issue with the
throttle, which they were able to fix for Q3, so I guess taking all of this
into consideration, we did OK. The important thing is that the car is great
and I'm feeling confident going into tomorrow's race."

Power's performance this season has been a pleasant surprise for Penske
Racing. In just six races, the 28-year-old Australian has one victory, two
poles, four top-five finishes and has never finished outside the top 10.

Penske Racing president Tim Cindric said it was unfortunate that Power won't
get a chance to compete this weekend but the team stil hopes to turn in a
solid perfomance on Sunday without their injured teammate.

"We are pulling for Will to make a quick recovery and it is so unfortunate
that he won't be able to race on Sunday as he was really looking forward to
getting back in the car this week," said Cindric. "Ryan and Helio did a
great job in qualifying and both of the cars were quick all day so we should
be in good shape for the race."

Sunday's race is scheduled to begin at 5:50 p.m. ET and will be televised
live on Versus.